Asserting his executive power, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is petitioning the state’s Supreme Court to weigh in on a court ruling that overturned his unilateral decision to disband an affordable-housing agency.

If heard by the New Jersey’s highest court, the case is expected to have larger ramifications on Christie’s use of executive powers, legal experts said.

The case could also be considered after Christie appoints two judges to the seven-member court. The governor has said he wants to change to the court’s composition, in part, to help reverse past decisions on affordable housing and education funding, which he views as resulting from overly activist judges.

A 20-page appeal, filed by Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa on April 9, argues that a New Jersey law allowing for the executive reorganization of certain state agencies also permits the governor to abolish them. ”The governor properly exercised his authority in issuing the reorganization plan,” the brief states, according to a copy viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The Legislature created the 12-member Council on Affordable Housing to determine affordable housing obligations for New Jersey towns. The agency in the wake of the Fair Housing Act in 1985, in a bid to meet obligations for affordable housing set by the state Supreme Court under the so-called Mount Laurel cases. The state had previously been sued for not forcing towns to provide sufficient housing for low- and moderate-income residents.

Last year, the governor moved to abolish the agency, known as COAH, because it was a “costly and burdensome” regulatory agency. The Legislature didn’t act on the executive reorganization, and COAH’s board stopped meeting.

Affordable housing advocates appealed Christie’s decision last year, and in March the Appellate Division found that the governor had overstepped his bounds.

A reorganization of an independent authority by a governor would “violate New Jersey’s constitutional separation of powers,” wrote the three-member judicial panel in a 46-page decision. “We determine that the governor exceeded his authority.”

“We think the appellate decision was correct,” said Adam Gordon, staff attorney for the Fair Share Housing Center, a Cherry Hill law firm that fought Christie’s reorganization plan. “The governor can’t selectively ignore the portions of the Constitution that he doesn’t agree with.”

The governor disagreed with the lower court and his critics, and Chiesa asked the Supreme Court for a stay on the ruling in March. Christie’s office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

If the Supreme Court did end up siding with Christie, the decision could impact other state authorities, by allowing them to be abolished, said Robert Williams, a professor at the Rutgers School of Law-Camden who teaches New Jersey constitutional law.

“There’s never been a case like COAH,” Williams said. “If the court overturned this decision it could have quite far reaching implications.”